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fejjgtvM  RAILROAD 

Il&siiifims 


m  NEW  YORK  CITY 


Triumph  of  Railroad  Engineering,  Architecture  and  Construction  ^ 

In  bringing  its  tracks  into  the  very  heart  of  the  retail- business  district 
of  New  York  City,  close  to  the  great  hotels  and  theatres  of  the  metropolis, 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company  has  wrought  a  great  triumph  of  rail- 
road engineering  at  a  special  outlay  of  $90,000,000,  entirely  apart 
from  the  cost  of  the  Hudson  River  (McAdoo)  Tunnels.  The  problem 
was  not  to  spring  a  bridge  over  the  mile- wide  Hudson  River — shipping  for- 
bade that  comparatively  simple  linking  of  the  city  to  the  continent.  It" was 
underneath  the  river  that  the  engineers  sought  ingress  to  the  city,  and 
in  place  of  stable  rock  they  encountered  shifting  silt.  But  great  steel  shields 
were  forced  forward  by  hydraulic  power  from  shafts  at  either  end,  cast-iron 
and  concrete  lined  the  twin-bores,  steel  pillars  were  sunk  to  bed-rock  to 
support  the  tubes,  and  now  the  Pennsylvania  has  two  tracks  right  into  the 
centre  of  New  York  City — the  great  metropolis  that  dominates  America. 


SEE  BACK  COVER 


Cbe  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Tunnels 


By  WILLIAM  WIRT  MILLS 


ENTRANCE  of  the  Pennsylvania  Rail- 
road into  New  York  City  was  first  pro- 
posed by  Alexander  J.  Cassatt,  president 
of  the  company,  in  his  annual  report  to  the 
stockholders  in  March,  1901,  when  he  said: 
"  Your  interests,  as  well  as  the  convenience 
of  the  public,  require  the  extension  of  your  line 
into  New  York,  and  the  establishment  of  a 
centrally  located  passenger-station  in  that  city, 
through  which  the  inconvenience  and  delays 
of  the  transfer  by  ferry  will  be  avoided." 

Mr.  Cassatt  and  Samuel  Rea,  third  vice- 
president,  took  up  the  problem  and  on  Dec. 
12  of  the  same  year  the  company  announced 
its  plans  to  establish  all-rail  connection  be- 
tween its  lines  in  New  Jersey  and  Long  Island, 
through  the  heart  of  New  York  by  means 
of  the  most  daring  scheme  of  tunnels. 

A  year  was  occupied  by  negotiations  for  the 
franchise,  which  was  signed  by  Mayor  Low 
on  Dec.  22,  1902,  and  on  June  10,  1903, 
construction  was  begun  and  pushed  with  such 
energy  and  with  so  few  set-backs  that  the 
twin  Hudson  River  tubes  were  completed  in 
1907,  two  of  the  four  East  River  tunnels 
were  finished  in  February,  1908,  and  the 
entire  system  will, be  in  operation  in  1908. 

This  15-mile  link  overcomes  the  insularity 
cf  Manhattan  and  unites  the  10,978  miles  of 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  tracks  with  the  lines 
on  Long  Island  and  by  the  New  York  Con- 
necting R.  R.  with  the  tracks  of  the  New 
York,  New  Haven  and  Hartford  system. 

Leaving  the  present  Pennsylvania  main  line 
at  Harrison,  N.  J.,  the  tracks  cross  the 
Hackensack  river  and  meadows  and  enter  the 
tunnels  at  Bergen  Hill  (p.  5),  not  coming  out 
again  upon  the  level  until  they  reach  the  great 
Sunnyside  terminal  yards  at  Thompson  Ave., 
Long  Island  City,  a  mile  east  of  East  River. 

There  are  two  tunnels  under  Bergen  Hill 
and  the  Hudson  River  ( pp.  4  and  7 ) ,  the  dis- 
tance between  the  centres  of  the  tubes  under 
the  river  being  37  feet.  These  tunnels  con- 
tinue under  Manhattan  to  the  entrance  to  the 
depressed  station-yard  at  10th  Avenue.  This 
work  from  the  West  Portal  at  Bergen  Hill  to 
9th  Avenue  is  under  the  direction  of  Charles 
M.  Jacobs,  chief  engineer,  and  James  Forgie, 
chief  assistant  engineer.  Between  Bergen  Hill 
and  Harrison,  A.  C.  Shand,  chief  engineer 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  has  charge. 

In  the  great  yard  between  9th  and  8th 
Aves.,  60  feet  below  the  surface,  the  two 
tracks  multiply  to  21  and  pass  through  the 

Copyright,  1908, 


station  (p.  15)  at  a  depth  of  40  ft.;  at  7th 
Ave.  the  tracks,  converging  into  six,  enter 
three-track  tunnels,  one  under  3 2d  St.  and 
one  under  33d;  near  6th  Ave.,  at  a  depth  cf 
75  ft.  ,  these  tunnels  change  from  two  wide 
arches  to  two  twin  arches,  carrying  four  tracks 
to  1st  Ave.,  where  they  enter  four  separate 
tubes  which  extend  under  the  East  River,  a 
distance  of  3,916  ft.;  near  the  Long  Island 
shore  the  tunnels  begin  to  converge  and  they 
meet  in  an  open  cut  (p.  16)  that  leads  into 
the  Sunnyside  yards  at  Thompson  Ave. ,  2.85 
miles  from  the  station  entrance  in  Seventh 
Ave.  Alfred  Noble  is  chief  engineer  for  all 
work  east  of  9th  Ave.,  with  Charles  L. 
Harrison  as  chief  assistant  engineer. 

Including  16  miles  of  tracks  in  the  central 
station  and  yards,  there  will  be  31.70  miles  of 
track  between  the  Jersey  Portal  at  Bergen  Hill 
and  the  terminal  yard  at  Sunnyside,  L.  I.  City. 

All  the  trains  will  be  operated  by  electricity 
furnished  from  power  houses  in  Long  Island 
City  and  at  Harrison,  N.  J.,  planned  and  built 
by  Westinghouse,  Church,  Kerr&Co.,  under 
the  direction  of  George  Gibbs,  chief  engineer 
of  electric  traction. 

The  entire  work  has  been  prosecuted  under 
the  general  direction  of  Vice-President  Rea, 
with  the  advice  of  a  board  of  consulting  en- 
gineers consisting  of  Brig.  Gen.  C.  W.  Ray- 
mond, U.  S.  A.,  chairman,  and  Messrs. 
Jacobs,  Noble  and  Gibbs.  During  the  period 
in  which  the  project  was  reduced  to  a  work- 
ing basis,  Wm.  H.  Brown,  chief  engineer  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  and  Gustav  Lin- 
denthal,  Bridge  Commissioner  of  New  York 
City,  were  members  of  the  board. 

Closely  related  to  the  vast  tunnel  and  sta- 
tion enterprise  is  the  New  York  Connecting 
Railway,  which  will  carry  trains  from  the  tun- 
nels through  to  New  England  and  give  the 
N,  Y.,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  access  to 
Pennsylvania  station  at  7th  Ave.  This  $15,- 
000,000  improvement,  including  the  Hell 
Gate  Bridge  (p.  17),  twelve  miles  of  railroad 
and  four  great  freight  terminals,  will  furnish 
a  route  for  the  Pennsylvania's  New  England 
and  Long  Island  freight  by  means  of  car-floats 
across  New  York  Bay  to  Greenville,  N.  J. 

The  portion  of  the  Pennsylvania  tracks 
from  Harrison  to  Jersey  City,  relieved  by  the 
diversion  of  the  large  part  of  the  main  line 
heavy  traffic  through  the  tunnels,  will  be  used 
for  a  surburban  service  through  the  McAdoo 
tubes  to  Cortlandt  St.,  Manhattan f  pp.  1  8-23  ), 
by  Moses  King 


fcx  ICtbrtB 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


SAMUEL  REA,  3d  v.  p.  P.R.R.;  JAMES  M'CREA,  Pres.  P.R.R.;  CHAS.  E.  PUGH,  2d 
v.p.  P.R.R.;  CHARLES  M.  JACOBS,  designer  tunnels  and  ch.  eng.;  ALEX.  J.  CASSATT, 
late  Pres.  P.  R.  R.;  JOHN  P.  GREEN',  1st  v.p.;  JAMES  FORGIE,  ch.  asst.  eng.  N.  Riv. 
Div.;  WM.  H.  BROWN,  bd.  of  eng. ;  J.  T.  RICHARDS,  ch.  eng.  maintenance  of  way. 


WEEH  AWKEN  SHAFT,  100x154ft.  at  top;  56x116ft.  at  bottom;  76  ft.  deep;  lined  with 
9,810  cu.  ft.  concrete;  begun  June  II,  '03,  finished  Sept.  1,  '04.  Manhattan  Shaft,  22x32 
ft. 5  55  ft.  deep;  begun  June  IO,  03;  finished  Dec.  n.     Built  by  United  Eng.  &  Con.  Co. 


CROSS  SECTION  PENNA.  TUNNELS,  trains  running  in  tubes  through  silt  bottom  ui 
Hudson,  4,432  ft.  wide,  53  ft.  deep;  maximum  depth  bottom  of  tubes,  97  ft.;  built  by  shields, 
air  pressure,  15  to  3  7  lbs.  sq.  in.;  north  tube  lining  completed  Oct.  9, '06,  south,  Nov.  18,  '06. 


JUNCTION  OF  SOUTH  TUBES,  building  last  rings,  Nov.  14,  '06;  bores  made  by  driving 
1 1 3-ton  steel  shield  with  24  hydraulic  rams  exerting  forward  pressure  of  6,000,000  lbs.  Weight 
of  shield  and  machinery,  193  tons.  EMERGENCY  AIR-LOCK  for  refuge  in  case  of  flooding. 


LINING  AND  WATERPROOFING  rock  section  under  Manhattan  after  excavation. 
LAYING  DUCTS  for  electric  power  and  light  wires  to  carry  the  105,000  electrical 
norse-power  which   will  be   required  to  move  the  trains  and  light  stations  and  tunnels. 


EXCAVATING  under  9th  Ave.  "L"  for  cut  through  which  materials  trom  station  excava- 
tion are  carried  to  scows  which  are  towed  to  Greenville,  N.  J.,  to  fill  in  great  freight  yard, 
EIGHTH  AVENUE,  with  trolley  line  supported  on  tre«tle  during  work  on  scation  excavation. 


POWER  HOUSE,  Long  Island  City,  200x500  ft.  with  coal  tower  170  ft.  high;  145,500 
kilowatt  generating  units,  32  tubular  boilers;  George  Gibbs,  chief  engineer  electric  traction. 
LONG  ISLAND  CITY,  emergence  of  tunnels  and  connection  with  Long  Island  RR.  system. 


HELL  GATE  BRIDGE,  four  tracks;  massive  granite  abutments  surrounded  by  concrete  towers; 
220  fc.  high;  steel  arch  span,  1,000  ft.  long;  135  ft.  above  water;  with  viaduct  approaches, 
longest  and  heaviest  bridge  in  the  world;  80,000  tons.  Gustav  Lindenthal,  Cons.  Eng.  &  Arch. 


F)udson  "Cimnel  System 


IT  WAS  as  long  ago  as  1871  that  the 
tunnelling  of  the  Hudson  River  was  pro- 
posed by  D.  C.  Haskin,  who  conceived 
the  idea  that  iron  cylinders,  fitted  with  air- 
locks, placed  horizontally  below  water-level, 
could  be  used  with  compressed  air  in  tunnel 
construction.  In  November,  1 8  74,  he  began, 
from  a  shaft  sunk  in  Jersey  City,  to  construct 
the  first  tunnel  through  the  silt  that  forms 
the  bottom  of  the  Hudson  River,  and  had 
reached  a  point  about  1,200  feet  from  the 
shore,  when,  on  July  21,  1880,  a  blow-out 
caused  the  loss  of  20  1  ves  and  stopped  the  work. 

In  1888  the  project  was  revived,  but  the 
work  stopped  in  1892,  with  3,000  feet  of 
brick-lined  tunnel  completed.  In  1902  Wm. 
G.  McAdoo  organized  the  New  York  and 
New  Jersey  Railroad  Co.,  adopted  the  plan 
of  building  steel  tubes,  cut  through  the  first 
tunnels  under  the  Hudson,  the  headings  of 
the  north  tube  meeting  on  March  8,  1904, 
and  south  tube  on  Sept.  29,'  1905. 

These  tunnels,  which  are  5,600  feet  long, 
extend  from  15th  St. ,  Jersey  City,  to  Morton 
St.,  New  York,  and  are  being  continued 
under  Greenwich  and  Christopher  Sts.  and 
6th  Ave.  to  33d  St.,  with  a  spur  across  9th 
St.  to  connection  with  Subway  at  Astor  Place. 

Another  pair  of  tubes  is  being  built  by  the 
Hudson  &  Manhattan  Railroad  Co.  from 
Cortlandt  and  Fulton  Sts.,  New  York,  to 
Montgomery  St.,  Jersey  City,  with  an  exten- 
sion of  three-quarters  of  a  mile  to  a  con- 
nection with  the  Pennsylvania  R.  R.  elevated 
tracks  at  Brunswick  St.  A  transverse  tunnel 
a  mile  and  a  quarter  long  through  Jersey  City 
and  Hoboken,  under  the  tracks  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania, Erie  and  Lackawanna  Railroads,  with 
entrances  to  the  station  of  each  road,  will 
connect  the  two  sets  of  tunnels. 

Not  only  has  Mr.  McAdoo  carried  practi- 
cally to  completion  in  six  years  an  enterprise 
that  had  dragged  along  unsuccessfully  for 
thirty  years,  but  he  has  greatly  enlarged  its 
scope,  completing  a  system  of  15  miles  of 
underground  railway,  including  four  tubes 
under  the  Hudson  whose  total  length  is 
23,256  feet,  or  4.4  miles.  * 

Where  the  northerly  bores  cross  the  river 
is  5,500  feet  wide  and  the  distance  between 
the  shafts  is  5,650  feet,  the  maximum  depth 
of  the  water,  60  feet;  maximum  depth  of 
bottom  of  tube,  97  feet. 

The  southerly  tubes,  begun  in  January, 
1906,  will  be  5,978  feet  long,  and  will  have 
a  maximum  depth  of  92  feet.  This  work  is 
being  rabidly  finished  in  1908. 


Charles  M.  Jacobs,  the  Pennsylvania  tun- 
nel builder,  is  chief  engineer,  with  J.  Vipond 
Davies,  as  chief  assistant,  in  direct  charge. 

Both  companies  are  controlled  by  the  Hud- 
son Companies,  Walter  G.  Oakman  presi- 
dent, and  are  financed  by  the  banking  house 
of  Harvey  Fisk  &  Sons. 

Through  these  tunnels,  which  are  1  5  ft.  3 
in.  in  diameter,  high  speed  electric  trains  will 
be  run  from  Newark  to  the  Church.  St  Ter- 
minal in  15  minutes;  the  passage  under  the 
river,  from  the  present  Penna.  station  in 
Jersey  City,  will  take  three  minutes. 

From  Newark,  through  the  transverse  tun- 
nel and  the  northerly  tubes,  to  33d  St.  and 
6th  Ave.,  Manhattan,  will  occupy  29  min- 
utes; from  Hoboken,  19  minute\  The 
portion  of  the  system  between  Hoboken  and 
19th  St.,  Manhattan,  was  opened  to  travel 
by  President  Roosevelt,  February  25,  1908. 

Eight-car  trains  are  operated  on  a  headway 
of  1  ]/2  minutes  during  the  rush  hours,  pro- 
viding seats  for  16,000  passengers  an  hour. 
The  cars  have  side  doors  as  well  as  entrances 
at  both  ends,  all  operated  by  compressed  air, 
and  at  the  terminals  the  trains  stop  between 
broad,  parallel  platforms,  so  that  passengers 
can  be  discharged  from  one  side  and  admitted 
from  the  other,  avoiding  the  chief  cause  of  con- 
gestion and  delays  in  the  municipal  subway  oper- 
ated by  the  Interborough  Rapid  Transit  Co. 

At  Harrison,  where  the  Hudson  Compa- 
nies' trains  will  start,  when  the  entire  system 
is  in  operation  in  1909,  there  will  be  a  great 
transfer  station,  where  all  the  trains  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  will  stop,  and  which 
will  be  the  focus  of  the  various  lines  of  the 
Public  Service  Corporation,  which  has  640 
miles  of  street  railways  in  Newark,  Elizabeth, 
and  the  other  north  Jersey  cities  and  towns. 

The  Church  St.  Terminal  will  be  the 
heart  of  underground  transit  in  New  York, 
tor  from  this  station,  without  at  any  time 
going  from  under  cover,  a  passenger  will  be 
able  to  go  by  the  municipal  subway  either  to 
the  Grand  Central  Station  or  to  the  Flatbush 
Station  of  the  Long  Island  Railroad,  by  the 
McAdoo  tubes  to  the  Pennsylvania,  Erie,  or 
Lackawanna  Stations  in  Jersey  City,  or  to 
the  Pennsylvania  Station  at  Harrison,  or  by 
the  elevators  to  either  the  6th  Ave.  or  the 
9th  Ave.  elevated  lines. 

At  33d  St.  and  6th  Ave.  the  Hudson 
Companies  will  have  another  large  terminal, 
on  the  site  of  the  Manhattan  Theatre,  with 
connection  with  the  Pennsylvania  Station  at 
7th  Ave. 


E.  F.  C.  YOUNG,  ANTHONY  N.  BRADY,  E.  H.  GARY,  directors  Hudson  &  Manhattan  RR. 
J.  VIPOND  DAVIES,  assistant  to  Eng'r  Jacobs.  W.  G.  M'  ADOO,  president.  SIR  WEETMAN 
D.  PEARSON,  S.  Pearson  &  Son,  contractors  for  M'Adoo  tubes  and  Penna.-East  River  tunnels. 
C  F.  McKIM  and  WM.  R.  MEAD,  architects  P.RR.  C.W.  CLINTON,  architect  H.R.Term. 


HUDSON  COMPANIES  TRAIN,  under  Hudson  from  6th  Av.  &  19th  St.  to  Hoboken. 
MORTON  ST.  TUBES,  subway  from  Sixth  Ave.  entering  twin  tunnels  under  the  Hudson 
at  Morton  and  West  Sts.,  trains  descending  to  a  depth  of  95  ft.  below  mean  high  water. 


M'ADOO  TUNNEL;  Morton  St.  tube,  opened  Feb.  25,  '08;  Cortlandt  St.  tubes  under  way. 
M'ADOO  TERMINAL,  6th  Ave.  and  33d  St.;  Penna.  tunnels  on  lowest  level,  proposed 
municipal  subway;  M'Adoo  subway  terminus;  surface  lines;  6th  Ave.  "L"  and  bridge  over"L." 


CHL  RCH  ST.  TERMINAL,  largest  and  heaviest  building  in  city j  200,000  tons,  including 
24,000  tons  structural  steel,  37,500  tons  concrete,  16,300,000  bricks,  4,500  tons  terra 
cotta,  120,000  sq.  ft.  glass,  140  miles  of  pipe,  113  miles  wiring,  39  electric  elevators,  22  stories, 
275  ft.  above  curb;  entire  structure,  18,150,000  cubic  ft.     Clinton  S:  Russell,  Architects. 


Cbc  Ingenious  Construction  of 
Hudson  River  funnels 

NEW  problems  were  met  and  solved  in  the  building  of  the  tunnels  under 
the  Hudson  and  East  Rivers — problems  considerably  more  difficult  than 
those  encountered  in  any  of  the  eight  small  tunnels  under  the  Thames  at 
London,  or  in  the  6,000  ft.  bore  under  the  St.  Clair  River  connecting  Port  Huron 
with  Sarnia  in  Canada,  all  of  "which  were  constructed  by  the  shield  method. 

In  each  of  these  cases  the  tunnel  was  driven  through  clay,  or  sand,  or  gravel, 
and  onlv  moderately  high  air-pressures  were  necessary  to  prevent  the  water  oozing 
into  the  tube,  but  in  boring  under  the  rivers  that  gird  Manhattan,  the  builders 
encountered  a  very  soft  mud,  unstable  and  treacherous,  and  besides  using  air  pres- 
sures as  high  as  39  lbs.  per  sq.  in.  above  the  normal,  they  had  to  resort  to  num- 
erous devices  to  prevent  this  Hudson  silt  from  engulfing  the  workers  and  machinery. 

A  special  type  of  shield  was  devised  by  Chief  Engineer  Jacobs  and  Assistant 
Engineer  Forgie,  builder  of  tunnels  under  the  Thames,  London.  Before  the  bore 
entered  the  silt  a  concrete  bulkhead,  10  ft.  thick,  wasv erected  in  the  rock  section 
ot  the  tunnel.  This  was  pierced  with  three  air-locks,  those  for  passing  materials 
into  the  shield-chamber  and  for  the  admission  of  the  workers  being  cn  a  lower 
level,  and  the  emergency  air-lock  near  the  top  of  the  tube. 

Within  the  chamber  formed  by  this  bulkhead  the  shield  was  erected — a  steel 
structure,  23  feet  6^  inches  in  diameter  and  15  feet  11%  inches  long,  with  nine 
pockets,  three  on  lower  level,  four  in  midsection,  two  at  top. 

From  the  pockets  sliding  platforms  were  pushed  forward  into  the  silt,  under 
a  movable  hood  that  could  be  projected  25  inches  forward  of  the  cutting  edge  of 
the  shield.  On  the  platforms  the  "  sand  hogs  "  worked  at  the  silt,  passing  the 
excavated  material  back  through  the  pockets  into  the  shield-chamber,  and  as  thev 
cleared  the  way  the  shield  was  pushed  forward  by  hydraulic  rams. 

On  the  chamber  side  of  the  shield  was  another  hood  or  "skin"  of  steel- 
plates,  extending  back  6  ft.  4  in.,  to  hold  up  silt  while  cast-iron  lining  was  being  put  in. 

In  each  of  the  tunnels  different  difficulties  were  encountered.  While  the 
Pennsylvania  tubes  went  from  shore  to  shore,  under  the  Hudson,  through  silt, 
the  McAdoo  north  tubes  encountered  rock,  and  blasting  had  to  be  resorted  to;  in 
the  East  River  tunnels  the  top  of  the  bores  came  so  close  tc  the  river  bottom  that 
blankets  of  clay  had  to  be  placed  in  the  water  over  the  place  of^the  boring. 

But  the  most  remarkable  feature  of  the  construction  of  these  tunnels  is  the 
scheme  bv  which  thev  have  been  converted  into  sub-aqueous  bridges. 

In  lining  the  vjnnels,  on  the  bottom  centre  line,  a  cast-steel  shoe  or  plug 
2  feet  7  inches  in  diameter  was  inserted  every  fifteen  feet.  On  this  was  screwed 
a  7-foot  tube  of  the  same  diameter,  made  of  steel,  1  ^  inches  thick,  and  this  was 
forced  down  into  the  silt  by  a  hydraulic  ratchet  until  it  was  flush  with  the  inner 
bottom  of  the  tube;  then  another  7-foot  section  was  screwed  to  it  and  forced  down, 
and  this  was  continued  until  a  hollow  steel  column  had  been  constructed  and 
forced  down  10  feet  or  100  feet,  as  might  be,  until  the  steel  shoe  was  firmly- 
planted  on  bed-rock.  Then  the  hollow  column  was  cut  off  flush  with  the  inner 
lining  and  filled  with  concrete. 

Thus  a  series  of  steel  and  concrete  foundations  in  the  river  form  a  bridge 
carrying  the  tracks  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  under  the  river  within  the  tube, 
which  in  turn  was  strengthened  by  a  lining  of  two  feet  of  concrete,  held  in  solid 
miss  and  running  from  shore  to  shore,  affording  a  solid  structure  in  which  heavy 
express-trains  can  be  moved  with  safety  at  high  speed,  at  the  rate  of  a  train  every 
two  minutes.  William  Wirt  Mills, 


